Lonely path
by Mahumia
Summary: A young Dalish warden muses about the events which led to a last stand against the archdemon.


_We are the Dalish: keepers of the lost lore, walkers of the lonely path. We are the last of the Elvhenan, and never again shall we submit._

My eyesight is blurred, in a distance I hear the screams and sounds of battle. So much has happened… If anyone would have told me a year ago: "Mayam, you will unite an army of shemlen, elvhen, dwarves and mages and fight to protect us all." I would have called them crazy. But it happened, and now we are making our last stand.

It feels like yesterday that you and I scouted through the forest, Tamlen, tracking some shemlen. If only we had known the consequences of following that trail… Oh lethallan, it would not have been long before we would be officially bonded. But I lost you, and mourned, for we could not find a trace of your whereabouts. The keeper urged me to join that warden shemlen, in order to safe my life. But at that moment, I preferred death…

Away from the clan, amongst shemlen… I had never felt more lonely. At first it was hostile versus hostile. I could not stand to be surrounded by all those shemlen… but later I understood no one would benefit from such behavior. So I did my best to learn more about them, their point of view. The other warden, Alistair, turned out to be one of my best friends. Who would have believed that?

After Loghain betrayed everyone on the battlefield and Asha'bellanar saved my life and that of Alistair, we travelled north towards Lothering. Asha'bellanar sent her daughter along to accompany us. She proved to be a daring character, but we both knew little of shemlen customs: it helped to be not the only one. I was glad to be leaving Lothering again, with two new companions: a bard (who I did avoid first, but later I would learn to respect her when she turned out to know quite a bit about the Elvhen lore) and a Qunari. The Qunari was locked up, as they considered him to be a beast. The only beasts I saw were those shemlen running around in the mud… Shemlen settlements smell, I can tell you that…

On Alistair's request we went to Redcliffe, where he confessed that the arl was in fact his uncle. Shemlen politics... Anyway, the town was overrun by undead, caused by a possessed boy: the arls son. As the spirit had taken the boy as a hostage, I had no choice but to end his suffering, as we have to kill a keeper who succumbs to the whispering of spirits. His father remained comatose, so his wife asked us to follow some legend regarding the ashes of Andraste… I understood her wish, but seriously: we had an archdemon on our trail, so following a legend was not high on my list of priorities… Hopefully the arl would recover on his own.

I longed for the forest, after being surrounded by stone for so long, so we went searching for the Elvhen. We found a clan, sadly enough not ours, but they would send word to them. After disposing of some werewolves which bothered the clan, they were able to join the cause and fight along against the archdemon. It was hard to leave, but I knew I had strong allies at my back.

On the way to Ostagar we ran into an ambush. Well, not the first and surely not the last, but this one stood out, for it was led by an elf. Apparently he was hired to assassinate us, me and Alistair. I decided to let him live, and even though his flirting got on my nerves every now and then, it was good to have another elf on board. He was not a complete flatear, after all…

Dwarven politics is even worse than shemlen… As if being surrounded by tons of stone, locked up in the deep with uncountable numbers of darkspawn hiding in the shadows wasn't enough to almost drive me crazy… Some drunk dwarf offered us his support after we helped him find his lost wife – who was too occupied to care about him anyway… Ugh! Ah well, apart from the drinking he did not seem to be that bad, and we could use an extra axe…

Our relationship with templars had always been on edge, with them preying on our keepers and others with the gift of magic. So, when they wanted to annul their circle, I wanted to intervene: maybe there were flatears or even elvhen in there! Well ok, only flatears and shemlen magi, but at least we prevented that they would die by the sword of a templar. What is it with shemlen and wanting to lock up others anyway? It was at the circle where we met the older mage Wynne again. The first time was before the battle at Ostagar: it was good to see she survived it all, and wanted to join us to give her support.

Then you found me, llethallan, one night when traveling on the road… Not more than a shadow of who you once were. We both knew that you would slowly become like the others you had accompanied… No matter how much I wanted to, there was nothing more I could do for you than preserve you from that faith. Rest well, llethallan, I have always loved you too.

Back at Redcliffe, the arl was still comatose. My question if we couldn't do without him was not appreciated, so reluctantly I agreed to join the search for Andraste's ashes. Via Denerim we ended up in a remote village in the mountains, Haven. More lunatics! After withstanding bitter cold, more crazy shemlen and dragons, we met an old guardian. I managed to push my frustration away, as this spirit deserved honor for fulfilling this duty for so long. The guardian let us do tests in order to continue. My heart missed a beat or two when I noticed your spirit, llethallan. It was good, one last time to say goodbye after what happened that night at the camp. I had felt so much guilt, for not searching for you longer, for failing you… but then I knew it was alright. Knowing that you had peace with it, I could do the same. I felt relieved, confident… and when we reached some altar, I knew we had somehow found them: the ashes from Andraste. I asked the guardian for permission to take some of it with me to cure the arl of Redcliffe, which he gave me.

Somehow the ashes had effect on the arl, and he regained consciousness. It was time to move to Denerim and prepare the landsmeet. It was not the first time I visited the city, but did still loathe it. So we went to play the game of 'who can get the most votes' by trying to backstab the opponent without using an actual knife… I'll never understand those shemlen… Seeing how the flatears live was… stunning. I wonder how they can survive at all. At least we stopped those Tevinter monsters from getting more flatears into slavery. May the Dread Wolf hunt those slavers! In Howe's dungeon we found more victims of shemlen politics. Also a foulmouthed noble, who was left there to enjoy the scenery… I heard he liked to abuse the flatears, so killing him myself would have been too merciful… Howe was killed though, for bringing in those Tevinter slavers in the first place.

The landsmeet… blah blah. Long story short: all but a few nobles voted for Alistair over Loghain, including the queen. Loghain wanted a duel, so I let Alistair take it: he seemed to have more personal issues with the man anyway. Loghain did not escape his penalty for the betrayal, his daughter got locked up again (seriously?) and Alistair claimed the throne.

We returned to Redcliffe, to prepare ourselves for the final battle. A huge army had joined us: dwarves, magi, elvhen and shemlen. All together to fight for their future and for their country. Another grey warden had joined us, Riordan. He would fight with us to slay the archdemon. One new bit of information was quite unexpected: the grey warden who slew the archdemon would be killed in the process. Morrigan came up with some ritual that would prevent the grey warden to be slain… no, too risky, and I do no longer trust her after she asked us to kill Asha'bellanar… perhaps this was some kind of revenge for refusing to do that? And I was not going to persuade Alistair to lay with her. He hates her, come on!

To our horror it turned out that the bulk of the horde, including the archdemon, was not heading towards Redcliffe, but towards Denerim. We had to hurry, in order to give all those people at least a chance to survive.

_In War, Victory. In Peace, Vigilance. __In Death, Sacrifice._

So, here I stand, on top of this blasted tower. Our goal finally within reach. We have made it, but I know many have not… Even in the corners of my eyes I can see the broken bodies of those who have fallen. My fingers are bleeding from pulling the string of my bow over and over again. My quiver is empty. It is time… I will draw my sword and put an end to the reign of the dragon. I have fulfilled by destiny, my duty. Now I can join you, llethallan.

_hahren na melana sahlin  
emma ir abelas  
souver'inan isala hamin  
vhenan him dor'felas  
in uthenera na revas_

vir sulahn'nehn  
vi_r dirthera  
vir samahl la numin  
vir lath sa'vunin_


End file.
